Her way or the highway for Raducanu on court

Emma Raducanu remained defiant at the start of the Indian Wells Masters that if she does hire a new coach, it might not be to try and shape her game.

The Brit who won the 2021 US Open as a qualifier and then suffered a four-year drop in form due to injury, is in the market for a mentor – but only if he or she conforms to her vision for her tennis.

“Right now, it’s more about bringing my instincts back out, getting back in touch with myself,” the 23-year-old told the BBC.  “I have had a lot of people telling me what to do, how to play, and it hasn’t necessarily fit.

“So I want to come back to my natural way of playing. That takes time to relearn because that’s something that has been coached out of me a little bit.

“I don’t necessarily want to have one coach in the role because anyone I bring in is straight away going to be scrutinised – even if it’s a trial.

“I might feel the pressure to stick with them, even if it’s not necessarily the right decision.

“I would love to have a coach that works well, but I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be easy to find one person and they are going to check every box.”

Raducanu reached a WTA fiak in early February after exiting in the Australian Open second round. She lost both matches she played last month in the Gulf, at Doha and Dubai.

She is entering the first Masters of the season with former coach Mark Petchey filling in ad hoc in between his TV broadcast commentating duties.

But that solution is temporary. “With Mark I knew he’d be in Indian Wells so I asked him to come out a few days earlier just to do some stuff with me on the court and try to feel back in a better way with my game,” the No. 24 said.

“At the start of the year I didn’t feel too good but the last few days I’ve been feeling better. 

“It’s not something that has really been organised going forward but I knew he would be here and it’s been great, I always love being on court with him.”